Local heating assistance is spared shutdown

Friday

Oct 18, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 18, 2013 at 6:11 PM

A local fuel assistance program will remain open, thanks to an eleventh-hour funding boost. Tri-City Community Action Program (Tri-CAP) was due to close at the end of the business day today, due to the federal government’s partial shutdown.

Lisa Guerriero/ melrose@wickedlocal.com

A local fuel assistance program will remain open, thanks to an eleventh-hour funding boost.

Tri-City Community Action Program (Tri-CAP) was due to close at the end of the business day today, due to the federal government’s partial shutdown.

The Malden-based nonprofit relies on state and federal funding to administer home heating aid to low-income people in Melrose, Malden, Medford, Winchester, Woburn, Everett and Stoneham.

On Tuesday, Tri-CAP issued a statement explaining the plan to close today.

“We simply do not have the resources to maintain our operations or pay bills without a funding stream. Fuel assistance agencies across the state are finding themselves in the same position, and began closing down a week ago,” said Barry Ingber, Tri-CAP’s director of energy programs, in the statement.

Barring any last-minute funding relief, Tri-CAP said staff members would be temporarily laid off, fuel assistance appointments would be cancelled and rescheduled, the office would close and incoming phone calls would be diverted to voice mail.

Two pieces of good news came mid-week, sparing Tri-CAP and the local residents it serves. First, Congress ended the partial shutdown of government with a late-night deal on Wednesday.

The following day, with funding sources flowing again, Tri-CAP announced it would remain open.

However, the congressional deal by itself wouldn’t have allowed Tri-CAP to resume operations. Organizations like Tri-CAP normally deliver fuel on Nov. 1, and to be ready for that, they needed state funding to be approved — adequately and promptly.

Nov. 1 is a “turning point” when people will actually be denied benefits, according to state Undersecretary of Housing and Economic Development Aaron Gornstein.

“It was cold last night at my house. And if you are a senior citizen relying on fuel assistance it’s going to be tough come Nov. 1 if you’re not able to get heat,” Gornstein said during the federal shutdown.

Then came the second piece of good news. On Thursday, the state Legislature approved a supplemental budget that includes $20 million for low-income heating assistance.

The state usually supplements heating assistance programs after the New Year, but with federal funding likely delayed in the aftermath of the shutdown, lawmakers decided they didn’t have the luxury of waiting.

The state’s funding boost is “a critical lifeline for so many people,” said state Sen. Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, whose district includes several of the communities covered by Tri-CAP.

Clark was among the lawmakers who spoke in favor of funding for heating assistance, arguing that it would meet the needs of seniors and other low-income residents while the state waits for federal finding to “catch up.”

Ingber praised the state Legislature’s quick response, singling out local lawmakers for being “in the forefront of ensuring that the commonwealth’s most vulnerable residents would not be left for an uncertain amount of time without this critical program.”

Ongoing struggle

Even before the federal shutdown, the state’s heating assistance programs have been struggling financially in recent years.

About 20,000 low-income households are served by fuel assistance programs, including roughly 5,000 to 6,000 by Tri-CAP.

The number of people applying for help has been rising in recent years, and so is the number who qualify for assistance. At the same time, federal funding has either dwindled or remained. For the past few years, Massachusetts’ congressmen and U.S. senators have repeatedly fought to prevent federal funding from being cut.